‘Fifty Shades’ of Green: Sales Figures Released for Blockbuster Books

Everybody knows that E.L. James’s “Fifty Shades” trilogy has been a hit. But on Tuesday, German media company Bertelsmann, which owns the global book publisher Random House, made it clear exactly how big sales have been.

From March through December 2012, Random House sold more than 70 million print, audio and e-book editions of the trilogy in English, German and Spanish. That made “Fifty Shades” “the fastest-selling series in the company’s history,” trumpeted Bertelsmann.